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Top 7 Tips to Survive Dissertation Process

One can’t simply get a doctoral degree without completing a dissertation, and writing a dissertation is not an easy process. You should select a worthwhile topic, make a thorough research, and then come up with your unique contributions to the problem that you’re working with. No one says that writing a dissertation is an easy walk, but there are certain tips that can make the production of your dissertation much easier.

Surviving Your Dissertation

Start early and choose topic that you’re passionate about.

The dissertation process should start early, because it’s a serious undertaking and it should be taken seriously. The first several years of graduate school are important because during these years, you may come across the topic that you would like to research. Speaking about the topic, it’s very important to choose the one that you’re passionate about. Otherwise you will have low chances of writing a decent dissertation.

Do your research.

Once you have selected the topic, you need to start gathering and studying all existing materials that are related to it. Use all sources that you can – books, libraries, online libraries, scientific journals, monographs, interviews etc. Just make sure that your sources are relevant and have good quality.

Choose your advisor and committee wisely.

Since your advisor is the person, who guides you through your research, you should choose him or her wisely because you don’t want to end up having an advisor that doesn’t care. Choose someone who’s available, easy to get along with and whose work you admire. Once you have selected an advisor, you can ask him or her to recommend faculty members that can become members of your committee.

Don’t forget about formatting guidelines.

The most common styles are Chicago, MLA, APA and Turabian, but since every field has specific requirements for formatting, you should get acquitted with these requirements really well.

Write regularly.

That’s a quintessential piece of advice because if you don’t make it a regular habit, then the quality of your dissertation may suffer greatly. In one year from now, when your work is almost finished, you will be very glad you did it. Just mark my words.

Set a schedule.

In order to work regularly and effectively, you need to block time for different activities (research, writing, talking to your advisor etc) every week. Be realistic and flexible, but what’s more important be persistent and work scrupulously.

Take time off.

Don’t forget that working too much will not lead you to better results. On the contrary, when you get too tired, you need more time to recover and that’s the time that you could use for work if you haven’t worked that hard. All of us need some time to recharge in order to get back to our work with new energy and fresh ideas.

If you follow these seven tips, the process of dissertation writing will definitely become easier.